Boksburg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Boksburg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Boksburg within the Witwatersrand (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	23,177 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Sakkie Blanché (NP)
Replaced by	Gauteng

Boksburg was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1915 to 1994. It covered a part of the East Rand centred on the town of Boksburg. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.^[1]

The mines of the Witwatersrand were an early stronghold of South African trade unionism, and this made Boksburg fertile ground for the Labour Party - though not quite as safe as neighbouring seats like Benoni or Jeppes. It was held by the party during its nationwide peaks in 1920 and 1924-29, and otherwise alternated between the major parties. It was held by the Unionists in the 1910s, the South African Party in 1921, and in 1933, it was one of two seats won by Tielman Roos' "Central Party". From 1938 to 1958, it was a United Party seat, and in 1958 it fell to the governing National Party, who would hold it until the end of apartheid. Its last MP, Sakkie Blanché, was first elected in 1978, and continued to be a fixture of conservative politics in the post-apartheid era, only retiring in 2009.

^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}